Just another day in Alumni Gym for the Elon University men’s basketball team. Seventh straight victory overall. Fourth straight at home. The second game in a row in Alumni when a Phoenix player reached 1,000 career points.
These things are starting to become a bit routine.
Elon junior forward Lucas Troutman scored 26 points, including his 1,000th career, and grabbed ten rebounds for his third double-double of the season and 21st straight game in double-figures to lead the Phoenix to a 77-66 victory over the Samford University Bulldogs Saturday night.
“He played really well tonight. And he can get better,” said Elon head coach Matt Matheny of Troutman. “He can finish some that he didn’t, but he finished some that were really crafty. He’s so athletic, and some of those dunks, those are special plays. Lucas finished them. He’s got room for improvement.”
One of those dunks included an embarrassing posterization of Samford freshman forward Tim Williams with 10: 36 left in the second half. Troutman elevated over Williams’ outstretched arms and slammed the ball home with authority, forcing Bulldogs’ coach Bennie Selzer to call a timeout while the sold-out Alumni Gym was rocking.
The dunk was part of a 23-7 run over a 10:43 stretch in the second half.
The Phoenix got 30 combined first-half points from Troutman and junior guard Jack Isenbarger and took a 45-38 lead into halftime. But two quick baskets from Samford in the opening minutes of the second half closed the lead to just two. Then the Phoenix took off.
Six different players notched points in that 23-7 stretch that gave Elon a 68-51 lead with 7:47 when senior guard Josh Bonney drove the lane and dropped in a floater over a Samford defender.
“We had a really good run in the second half that spread the lead out that was great,” Matheny said. “But then we had to get stops.”
The Bulldogs cut the lead to as little as ten, but Troutman scored eight points over the final six minutes to create a cushion enough to earn the win.
Isenbarger said after the game that his team was able to fight through some fatigue, perhaps from playing a tough back-and-forth game against the University of North Carolina at Greensboro just two nights prior.
“I think we came out aggressive, which is what we wanted to do in the first half, built a lead,” he said. “There came a point, in both halves, where both teams got a little bit fatigued. We were able to fight through that really well. Anytime in this league when one team can really fight through fatigue, that gives you a bit of a boost. We ended up getting some easy buckets to Lucas inside if he was able to beat their big guys down the court. If we can run like that and just fight through the fatigue and be tough and grit it out, I think usually it results in a victory.”
Troutman reached the 1,000-point mark just nine days after his teammate Isenbarger hit the milestone against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Jan. 24. Before the game, Matheny handed a ceremonial basketball to Isenbarger marking the guard’s achievement.
About 30 minutes later, another one of his players earned his 1,000th point on the first of two free throws with 9:24 left in the first half.
“That’s really cool. That’s a sign of the growth of our players,” Matheny said. “What I have a vivid memory of is recruiting them, and our staff recruiting them and seeing them play in high school and seeing them as freshmen here and seeing them become sophomores and seeing them improve. And now they’ve taken ownership of this team.”
Troutman said it was a “blessing” to reach the number.
“To be here over the past couple of years and be able to get myself in the position to score my 1000th point is definitely an achievement and an honor that’s been given me by the school,” he said. “I can’t thank my friends, family and everybody else that’s been here along the way supporting me.”
Samford sophomore guard Connor Miller hit each of his first seven three-pointers and ended the night with a team-high 21 points. Williams chipped in 19 points and freshman forward Clide Geffrard, Jr., scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Bulldogs.
The win gives Elon a 15-7 record overall and an 8-2 mark in the Southern Conference. The Phoenix had 15 wins all of last season.
“That’s definitely one of our goals is to get better each year and be the best we can be by March,” Troutman said. “That’s our goal right now, to be the best we can be by March. The victories we’ve had are just a plus right now, and the only thing we can do is keep looking forward to what we need to do.”
The Phoenix has a few days before its next game, a Feb. 7 matchup with Wofford College. Elon defeated the Terriers 68-61 Jan. 19 in Alumni Gym.
Until then, Matheny said his team needs to do just one thing.
“We better get better tomorrow,” he said. “That sounds like a coach answer, but if I start thinking or we as a team start thinking about what can happen two or three weeks from now, we lose our way, we get off track. As long as we continue to focus on what is best for our team, then we have a chance to be good in March, and that’s one of our goals.”
Game Notes
- Around the SoCon: The Citadel rallied from an 18-point halftime deficit and defeated Furman University 84-79...Nathan Healy notched a career-high 24 points to lead Appalachian State University to a 74-65 win over Western Carolina University...Davidson College withstood a second-half rally by Wofford College and won 68-57...Andrew Lawrence scored 11 of his 17 points in the second half as College of Charleston upended UNCG 81-59...Eric Ferguson hit a three-pointer with 11.7 seconds left to lift Georgia Southern University to a 59-57 win against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
- Two nights after committing 25 turnovers against UNCG, Elon only turned the ball over eight times against the Bulldogs. “It’s good for my health,” Matheny said.
- The Bulldogs shot 61.1 percent from three-point range, an uncharacteristic mark for Elon opponents, who were averaging just 35.9 percent from behind the arc before the game. “They created shots and got good looks and they knocked them down,” Matheny said. “We have to defend better. They shot the right shots and knocked them down. We have to do a better job defensively.”
- Two nights after hitting his first field goal with about 90 seconds left in the game against UNCG, Isenbarger made a three-pointer just 4:39 into the first half against Samford. “It’s a relief to hit that early bucket to get things going, to get your confidence going,” he said. “That was a bit rough on Thursday, going that streak. I’m thankful that that first one went down.”